Laapataa Ladies Review: A laudable social satire which celebrates women empowerment
Laapataa Ladies Movie Rating: 3.5 Stars
Watched Laapataa Ladies movie in Cinema. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan
Director: Kiran Rao
Release Date: 1st March 2024 in cinema
Story: Set in 2001, somewhere in rural India in a fictional place named Nirmal Pradesh, movie revolves around Deepak (Sparsh Shrivastava) who is married to Phool (Nitanshi Goel). The couple boards a crowded train to Deepak’s village Mukhi. It being the wedding season, their compartment has other married couples as well. Brides are expected to keep their faces covered with ghunghat and this leads to a life-changing exchange.
Deepak accidentally brings home Pushpa (Pratibha Ranta) instead of Phool as there were many ghunghat-clad women on the train. After returning home, he realises that the woman he has taken home is not his wife. Phool gets off at another remote station and finds herself lost. She’s helped by a midget, Chotu (Satendra Soni) and Manju Maayi (Chhaya Kadam), an elderly woman running the tea stall.
Pushpa is kind of adopted by Deepak’s family and well looked after, with the whole family involved in getting her back to her real husband. But she’s not what she seems. Meanwhile, a corrupt but benign police inspector Manohar (Ravi Kishan) starts taking interest in the case and draws some startling conclusions. What happened next is all about this film.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Climax
3. Direction
4. Cinematography
5. Story
Negatives
1. Length
2. Screenplay in 2nd Half
3. Music
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on its release date as loved the presentation of this film.
A newly married husband loses his traditionally-veiled wife on a crowded train in a case of mistaken identity, and brings home another newly-wed, veiled bride—unbeknownst to either party until they reach their village home. The plot follows his search for his actual wife, and the journey of the woman who finds herself in the wrong village.
Laapataa Ladies story is fresh and entertaining. Since brides in small towns and villages in the hinterland move with their faces covered in veils, the story has relevance. This may be unusual for the city audience but as the film is set in the villages, it will not be found awkward by the city folk too. Screenplay is fantastic and drama is so wonderful that it keeps the audience involved and engaged all through. Smashing the notion of women-against-women, Sneha and director Kiran weave a beautiful scene between Pushpa and Deepak’s sister-in-law where they are shown bonding over their creative instincts. Deepak’s mother asks her mother-in-law whether they can be friends too. Small incidents drive home big points in the film. The women of Deepak’s house discuss that they’ve forgotten what their favorite dishes are as they’ve always catered to the choices of the men in the family. Deepak’s father asks him to wear old clothes while going to the police station as the amount of bribe rises in direct proportion to how well-off one looks. Another incident points towards the fact that keeping women veiled robs them of their identity. The optimism in the simplest of dialogues speaks the loudest. While it might not take the story forward, it does add weight to the world-building. It makes you wonder where Kiran Rao was all these years! Her perspective on telling a story is progressive, hard-hitting, yet entertaining. Striking the right balance with a film could have been a task but Kiran does it perfectly without getting preachy. She shapes the story to fit every age group and pays an ode to the women in our lives who are the wind beneath the wings. The last part of the drama has such a lovely message, and it is so beautifully woven in the script that it makes the writing even more solid.
On the flipside, the drama does drop for a while post-interval. The angle of MLA Mani Singh is hilarious. However, it serves no purpose to the story as the MLA and his speech are forgotten. Though the director ties all loose ends, she misses one Pushpa’s hubby had spotted Phool at the station and ideally, he should have informed the cop about it. It would have made the investigation easier. Music could have been better as good music can attract more footfalls. Overall, movie is a social satire which celebrates women empowerment. A delectable blend of heart, mind, and humour, this one’s an absolute winner. My view on this movie Highly Recommended for its moving story, powerful message and the realistic acting displayed by the entire cast.
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